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8 early warning signs of IT disaster
I am flattered to have provided input for a story by an author whose work I have read for years. His name is Dan Tynan, and he wrote “8 early warning signs of IT disasters” for CIO Magazine. Here is [...]
Imran Awan case shows lax security controls for Congressional IT staff
By Kevin McDonald Investigations into the conduct of the IT staff of the House of Representatives raised alarms. Kevin McDonald explains what we can learn from the case of Imran Awan. Those who operate with high-level system access, [...]
GDPR: The Regulatory Iceberg of 2018
You're heading into dangerous waters. On May 25, 2018, the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into full effect, and it will almost certainly affect you. If you are not compliant with the GDPR by this date, you could [...]
Average Ransomware Attack Infects 16 Workstations, 5 Servers and 22 Users
Midmarket firms are getting hit hardest by ransomware. Data from 2017 shows that 29% of the companies with 1,000 to 5,000 employees are getting struck by ransomware. If companies that size—who presumably have the resources to guard against this scourge—are [...]
What can my cloud provider do with my data?
Take a moment from your day and pull out the last three or four cloud services agreements your company has entered into. Now, highlight the provisions in those agreements that specifically define how the vendor may use your data. You [...]
Meltdown and Spectre news round-up for week of February 5, 2018
A running log of Meltdown and Spectre news can be found at Meltdown & Spectre: How to avoid the biggest cyber threat in modern computing. February 5, 2018 - At this point in time, Alvaka Networks is not advising [...]
Private sector’s national cybersecurity strategy contributions lacking
By Kevin McDonald The U.S. government has been very public about its concern for national cybersecurity. There have been grandiose speeches, presidential declarations and several attempts by the legislature to pass new cybersecurity laws. Private companies should be responsible for [...]
Employee training remains the best first line of defense against cybersecurity breaches
If there is one lesson to be learned from the recent mass spate of security breaches, particularly those involving ransomware, it is this: adequate training for personnel can dramatically decrease the likelihood of a successful attack on a business. Unfortunately, [...]
“Are the risks from Meltdown and Spectre overblown?”…asks an IT professional
I participate in IT professional industry forums, where peers ask questions of other peers. Someone in the forum made a somewhat disjointed post questioning the severity for the recent Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities. I paraphrase his long question: About [...]
Meltdown & Spectre: How to avoid the biggest cyber threat in modern computing
For Immediate Release In This Message: What is this threat and why does it affect you? What you need to do.** A special offer for new patch management clients. A dynamic weekly updated list of Meltdown and Spectre solutions [...]